Apparatus for the assembly of folding blanks for cases



1941' A. M. KAMPER 2,230,956

7 APPARATUS FOR THE ASSEMBLY OF FOLDING BLANKS FOR CASES Filed Aug. 22,1939' s Sheets-Sheet 1 ANDREW M. KAMPER PEQ flMWa/JM Feb. 4, 1941. A. M.KAMPER APPARATUS FOR THE ASSEMBLY OF FOLDING BLANKS FOR CASES Filed Aug.22, 1939 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inn/euro? ANDREW M. KAMPER e u/m Feb. 4; 1941.A. M, KAMPER 2,230,956

APPARATUS FOR THE ASSEMBLY OF FOLDING BLANKS FOR CASES Filed Aug. 22,1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Ira- 106 I HVE'NTOQ ANDREW m. KAMPER PE? 7ZMMQMYFeb. 4, 1941. KAMPER 2,230,956

APPARATUS FOR THE ASSEMBLY OF FOLDING BLANKS FOR CASES Filed Aug. 22,1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 34 I 35 O 0 9e 92 IHVEHTOQ ANDREW M. KAMPER v@atwwm.

Fl-r-ro RH E18 1941- A. M. KAMPER 2,230,956

APPARATUS FOR THE ASSEMBLY OF FOLDING BLANKS FOR CASES Filed Aug. 22,19.59 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 l J M v G K 1 F IHVEHTOQ U ,,/23 a 1/71 ANDREW M.KAMPER Patented Feb. 4, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE APPARATUS FORTHE ASSEMBLY OF FOLDING BLANKS FOR CASES Application August 22, 1939,Serial No. 291,421

In Great Britain August 23, 1938 13 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for the assembly of folding blanksfor cases of the kind in which the front, bottom, back and if desiredthe lid of the case are secured at opposite edges 5 to two toothedbinding strips which may be provided with flanges serving to locate theends of the case.

The machines now employed for the manufacture of such blanks are fullyautomatic and consequently rather elaborate and expensive.

An object of the present invention is to provide apparatus which is onlypartly automatic in operation but which is relatively cheap tomanufacture and simple to operate. Such a machine can be economicallyemployed under circumstances where the known machine is at adisadvantage, for example in the production of small batches of blanksof numerous different shapes.

The improved apparatus according to this invention comprises twosupporting members which are adapted to hold the two previously toothedand flanged binding strips parallel to each other with their teethexposed, panel-locating members for locating panels being placed on thepoints of the strip teeth, and two press heads operable for forcing thepanels onto'the strip teeth and thereby causing the teeth to be driveninto the panels, at leastone of these press heads being capable ofwithdrawal upwardly and laterally away from the other so as to permitthe panels to be passed between them onto the strips. The panel-locatingmembers are preferably displaceable transversely of the blank between anoperative position, in which 35 they project between two stripscorrectly positioned on said supporting members, and an inoperativeposition in which they are clear of the plane of the blank. The pressheads may conveniently be arranged to pivot about axes lying parallel tothe strips and substantially in the plane of the blank, and the panellocating members may be carried on the press heads. The controlmechanism is preferably such that an initial operation of a controlmember causes the press heads to advance far enough to bring thepanel-locating members into their operative position but to leave thepressheads spaced far enough apart to enable the panels to be passedbetween them onto the strips, while a second operation of the controlmember causes the press heads to advance to their full extent andthereafter to withdraw so as to retract the panel 10- eating membersinto their inoperative position.

A further object is to providein such apparatus improved mechanism fordriving the press heads whereby the pressure exerted by the latter maybe maintained substantially independent of slight variations inthickness of the blank.

Another object is to provide simple means for clenching the points ofthe strip teeth.

An example of the improved apparatus will now be described, withreference to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a plan of theapparatus, from which certain parts not essential to the explanation ofthe invention are omitted,

Fig. 2 is an irregular section to a larger scale taken approximately onthe line 2-2 in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a sectional side elevation, also to a A larger scale. taken onthe line 3-3 in Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a plan of the parts shown in Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 in Fig. 3,

Fig. 6 is a section of a detail, to a still larger scale, on the line6-6 in Fig. 4,

Fig. '7 is an end elevation of a detail as viewed from the line 1-4 inFig. 4,

Fig. 8 is a part sectional side elevation of a clutch,

Fig. 9 is a section on the line 9-4 in Fig. l, on a larger scale,

Fig. 10 is a section of a part of Fig. l on a larger scale, and

Fig. 11 is an electrical circuit diagram of control mechanism.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the apparatus is provided with twostrip-supporting members, generally denoted by A and 203. The member 20Ais fixed to several transverse sleeper joists 2| and 22,wh=ile themember 2GB is slidable along these joists, to suit box blanks ofdifierent widths, by means of rack-and-pinion mechanism (omitted fromFig. 1) including racks 23 fixed to the sleepers and co-operating withpinions 24 keyed to'a common shaft 25 actuated by gearing 26, 21, and ahand wheel 28.

The two strip-supporting members are otherwise identical. Each includesa longitudinal plate 29 fixed to an angle bar 30 and supported on thesleepers by chairs 3i. A runway 32 for the upper run of a roller chainconveyor 33 is bolted to the plate 29, and this conveyor is driven by asprocket 3 t fixed to a shaft 35 (Figs. 3 and 4) which is journalled ina bearing 38 mounted on the plate 29 near the .end of the machine. wherethe blanks are discharged. The other end of the conveyor returns roundidler sprockets which are hidden in Fig. 1. The chain conveyor isprovided on every alternate link with a magnetic block 31, having alongitudinal groove 3-3 'unison by oscillatory driving mechanismincludof the bar 42 being equal to that of the end panels of the case tobe made.

The press head on each supporting member includes a bar 43 (Fig. 10)fixed by lugs 44 to a pivot shaft 45 which is journalled in bearings 45fixed to the plate 29, the axis of the shaft 45' being slightly abovethe faces of the conveyor magnets on the upper run of the conveyor. Tothe bar 43 is fixed a steel pressing bar 41 having a longitudinal ledge48. The bars 43 and 41;

co-operate to form a longitudinal T slot 49.

On each press head is mounted a numberof, for example four,longitudinally adjustable panel-locating members 50 and a fixedpanellocating member 5|. Each of the members 58 has a fiat blade thethickness of which is equal to the width of the gap required to beprovided between adjacent panels of the blank, this blade being fixed toan angle bracket 52 located by the ledge 48 and adjustably secured tothe press head by a bolt 53 the head of which is accommodated in the Tslot 49.

The press heads are constrained to operate in ing a rocking shaft 54(Figs. 1 and 2) journalled in bearings 55, 56, 51 and 58. To this shaftare keyed two cranks 59 coupled by connecting rods 68 respectively totwo levers BI fixed to the pivot shafts 45. The rocking shaft 54 iscoupled by a relatively resilient shaft 62 to an oscillatory drivingcrank shaft 63 (Fig. 9) coupled by a connecting rod 64 to a rotary crankshaft 65, the

radius of the latter crank being shorter than that of the former. Apositive clutch 65 of known type has a driven member 61 rigid with theshaft 65 and a driving member including a sprocket 68 journalled on theshaft 85. A trip member 89 for disengaging the clutch is pivotallymounted on the driven member 81 and is biased by a spring (not shown)into the clutch-engaged position in which it appears in Fig. 9. Thistrip member co-operates with abutments I0 and II on a lever I2 which isfixed to a shaft I3 adapted to be rocked by a solenoid I4 and an arm I5so as to bring the abutments alternatively into the path ofthe tripmember 89. The sprocket 68 is continuously driven in the direction ofthe arrow in Fig. 9, by a motor I6 (Fig. 1) through belts TI and a layshaft I8 to which is fixed a sprocket I9, connected by a chain to thesprocket 68.

At the discharge end of the machine are arranged two pairs ofspring-loaded rollers 8I and 82, each pair being driven in known mannerby a gear box 83 (Figs. 1, 3 and 4). These gear boxes have a couplingshaft 84 and driving sprockets 85 connected by chains 86 (omitted fromFigs. 4 and 5) to sprockets 81 fast on the conveyor driving shafts 35.One of the shafts 35 is also fast with a sprocket-88 connected by achain 89 to a sprocket 98 (Fig. 1) fast on a shaft 9| adapted to becoupled to the lay shaft I8 by a friction clutch 92. This clutch, asshown diagrammatically in Fig. 8, includes a driving member 93 fast onthe shaft I8 and a driven member 94 slidably keyed to the shaft 9| andactuated by a solenoid 95 operating through a crank yoke lever 98 and astriking ring 91.

Stop mechanism for arresting the strips M in their correct positions isshown in Figs. 3 to 7. At each side of the machine this mechanismincludes a stop lever 98 having a roller 98A on its inner side and fixedto a shaft 99 journalled in bearings I88 and IIII mounted on the plate29. To the shaft 99 is also keyed a lifting lever I82, urged downwardsby a tension spring I03, and a tail lever I04 co-operating with anadjustable stop I08A which is so set as to allow the nose of the stoplever 98 to enter the grooves 38 in the conveyor magnets 31 but toprevent the stop from rubbing on the magnets. A holding lever I85 isfast on a shaft I88 journalled in the bearing member I88 and rigid witha trigger I01 and a lever I88 biased by a tension spring I09. A' leverH0 is also fixed to the shaft I86 and co-operates with a stop III on thebearing member IIlI (Fig. 6).

The end of the pivot shaft 45 is provided with a quarter-circularprojection II2 adjacent to which is an eccentric pin II3 on which isjournalled a pawl I I4 biased by a spring I I 5 and cooperating with thelifting lever-lll2. An abutment I I6 on this pawl co-operates with theprojection II2.

A deflector bar III (Figs. 3 and 4) set obliquely to the path of theteeth of each strip and having a bevelled operative surface H8 is fixedto a bracket II9 on the gear box 83.

The control mechanism, shown in Fig. 11, includes a control switch leverI 28 movable between two positions in which it closes alternativelycontacts I2I and I22. The contacts I22 control an electrical circuitconnecting a current source I23 to the solenoid I4, while the contactsI2I control a circuit connecting the source I23 to the solenoid 95through an interlocking switch I24 adapted to be closed when the pressheads are fully raised by a lever I25, which is fixed to the oscillatorycrank shaft 83.

This apparatus operates as follows. The motor I6 is started; the handleI28 is in the position' shown in full lines in Fig. 11, and the pressheads are fully raised, as shown in full lines in Fig. 2, the trip lever69 of the clutch 68 being against the abutment I8 and the switch I24be-' ing closed by the lever I25, so that the clutch 92 is engaged bythe solenoid 95. The conveyor chains are consequently in motion. A pairof mild steel toothed and flanged binding strips are fed by hand ontothe entry ends of the eonveyors, where they are engaged by the magnetsand fed in until their leading ends engage the stop levers 98, whereuponthe conveyor magnets slip along the strips. The switch lever I20 is nowmoved to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 11, so that thesolenoid '95 is de-energized and the conveyor clutch 92 disengages. Atthe same time the solenoid I4 is energized and rocks the shaft I3 soas'to render the'abutment I0 inoperative and the abutment 'II operative.The clutch 66 thereupon engages and remains engaged-until its drivenpart G'I'has rotated so far that the trip lever 59 is tripped andheld bythe abutment II. The resulting movement of the shaft 65 rocks the crankshaft'63 until all the panel locating members 58 and 5I assume theposition shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. in which their lower ends cutthe plane of the box blank.

The necessary number of box panels I25, in this example four, are nowpassed downwards by hand between the raised press heads and placed onthe upturned teeth 4IA of the strips.

The panel-locating members 50' areso spaced longitudinally that thepanels fitbetween them without longitudinal play, and the dependingflanges of the angle-bars 42 co-operate to locate the panels accuratelyon the strips in the transverse direction.

The switch lever I20 is now returned to its first position. Closing ofthe contacts I2l by the switch lever l2!) does not immediately energizethe solenoid 95, because the interlocking switch !24 is now open. Thesolenoid M becomes de-energized; the abutment H thus releases the triplever 69 and the abutment F0 is moved to its operative position. Theclutch 66 thus engages and remains engaged until its driven part hasrotated so far that the trip lever 69 is tripped and held by theabutment 70. The resulting movement of the shaft 65 rocks the crankshaft 63, and, as the shaft 65 approaches the dead-centre position inwhich it appears in Fig. 9, the shaft 63 operates to bring the pressheads down to the position shown in Fig. 10 and cause them to drive thepanels down until'they are fully penetrated by the strip teeth. Theresilient connection 62, interposed between the crank shaft 63 and therocking shaft 54, is capable of yielding, as the crank 65 passes overdead centre, and so preventing substantialvariation in the pressureapplied by the press heads, which might otherwise occur owing forexample to variations in thickness of the panels being pressed. Theshaft 65 continues to rotate so that the press heads are immediatelyraised to the fully open position shown in full lines in Fig. 2, withthe panel-locating members 50 withdrawn to their inoperative positionabove the plane of the blank. As the pivot shafts 45 rock away from eachother, the pawls IN on their ends engage the lifting levers I02 andraise the 40 noses of the stop levers 98 clear of the blank until theyare retained by the engagement of the tail levers H14 under the holdinglevers Hi5, the pawls finally disengaging upwardly and laterally fromthe lifting levers. As the press heads come to rest, the lever I25 onthe oscillatory crank shaft 63 closes the interlocking switch IN andthus the solenoid is energized and the conveyors and the rollers BI and82 are set in motion. The pressed blank is accordingly discharged, thepoints of the strip teeth being deflected inwards as they pass under andengage the' deflectors H1, and the panels being rolled into intimatecontact with the strips and the points of the teeth being clenched asthe blank passes between the rollers 8| and 82. As the leading edge ofthe blank strikes the trigger levers ml, the stop levers 98 are therebyreleased but are supported clear of the blank by the rollers 98A whichrest on the upper surface of the blank. When the press heads descendduring the next cycle of operation, the pawls I I4 lag behind the pivotshafts 45 until the pawl noses can slip under the lifting levers I02,whereupon the pawls are returned by the springs H5 to their normalposition relative to the pivot shafts.

The resilient connecting shaft 62 enables the press heads to exert asubstantially uniform pressure in spite of slight variations in thethickness of the panels and eliminates risk of overstraining theactuating mechanism.

I claim:

1. Apparatusv for the assembly of folding blanks for cases comprisingpanels hingedly connected together by toothed metal binding strips,

the apparatus comprising two supporting members for holding twopreviously toothed binding strips parallel to each other with theirteeth exposed, panel-locating members which are displaceabletransversely of the blank between an operative position, in which theyproject between two strips correctly positioned on said supportingmembers and serve to locate panels being placed on the points of thestrip teeth, and an inoperative position, in which they are clear of theplane of the blank, and two press heads operable for forcing the panelsontothe strip teeth and thereby causing the teeth to be driven into thepanels, at least one of said press heads being capable of withdrawalupwardly and laterally away from the other so as to permit the panels tobe passed between them onto the strips.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of said pressheads is arranged to pivot about an axis lying parallel to the stripsand substantially in the plane of the blank.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said panel-locating membersare carried on said press heads.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said panel-locating membersare carried on said press heads which are arranged to pivot about axeslying parallel to the strips and substantially in the plane of theblank.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said panel-locating membersare carried on said press heads, said apparatus comprising powerdrivenmeans for actuating said press heads and associated with a controlmember which is initially operable to cause said press heads to advancefar enough to bring said panel-locating members into their operativeposition but to leave the press heads spaced far enough apart to enablethe panels to be passed between them onto the strips, said controlmember being further operable to cause said press heads to advance totheir full extent and thereafter to withdraw said panel-loca-tingmembers into their inoperative position.

6. Apparatus for the assembly of folding blanks for cases comprisingpanels hingedly connected together by toothed metal binding strips, theapparatus comprising two supporting members for holding two previouslytoothed binding strips parallel to each other with their teeth exposed,two press heads operable for forcing panels onto the strip teeth andthereby causing the teeth to be driven into the panels, a motor, and amechanical operative connection between sad motor and said press headsfor reciprocating said press heads in unison and including means forconverting rotary into oscillatory motion, characterized in that saidconnection includes a resilient element disposed between said means andsaid press heads.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said panel-locating membersare carried on said press heads, said apparatus comprising means foractuating said press heads including an oscillatory driving memberactuated by an eccentric rotary member, a motor, a clutch for connectingsaid motor to said rotary member, said clutch having a disengaging tripmember mounted for rotation with the driven part of the clutch, twoabutments displaceable alternatively into the path of said trip member,and a control member for displacing said abutments.

8. Apparatus for the assembly of folding blanks for cases comprisingpanels hingedly connected together by toothed metal binding strips,

the apparatus comprising two supporting members for holding twopreviously toothed binding strips parallel to each other with theirteeth exposed, panel-locating members which are displaceabletransversely of the blank between an operative position, in which theyproject between two strips correctly positioned on said supportingmembers and serve to locate panels being placed on the points of thestrip teeth, and an inoperative position, in which they are clear of theplane of the blank, two press heads operable for forcing the panels ontothe strip teeth and thereby causing the teeth to be driven into thepanels, conveying means for discharging assembled blanks, and actuatingmeans for displacing said panel-locating members from their inoperativeto their operative position, thereafter causing said press heads toexecute a pressing operation, thereafter withdrawing said press headsand said panel-locating members to the inoperative position, and finallyoperating said conveying means.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein said panel-locating membersare mounted on said press heads, said apparatus including a con- Veyorfor discharging assembled blanks and associated with a clutch, means foractuating said press heads including an oscillatory driving memberactuated by a rotary member associated with a second clutch having adisengaging trip member mounted for rotation with the clutch drivenpart, two abutments displaceable alternatively into the path of saidtrip member, and common control means for actuating said abutments andsaid conveyor clutch and including an interlocking connection with saidpress heads capable of causing engagement of said conveyor clutch upondisplacement of said panel-locating members to their inoperativeposition.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein said panel-locating membersare mounted on said press heads, said apparatus including a conveyor fordischarging assembled blanks and associated with a clutch, means foractuating said press heads including an oscillatory driving memberactuated by a rotary member associated with a second clutch having adisengaging trip member mounted for rotation with the clutch drivenpart, two abutments displaceable alternatively into the path of saidtrip member, electromagnetic devices for actuating said conveyor clutchand said abutments, a common control switch for energizing saidelectromagnetic devices, and an interlocking switch actuated in responseto displacement of said panel-locating members to their inoperativeposition and in circuit with the one of said electromagnetic devicesthat actuates said conveyor clutch.

11. In apparatus for the assembly of folding blanks for cases comprisingpanels hingedly connected together by toothed metal binding strips, theapparatus comprising two supporting members for holding two previouslytoothed binding strips parallel to each other with their teeth exposed,a press for forcing the panels onto the strip teeth and thereby causingthe points of these teeth to be driven completely through the panels, aconveyor for discharging the blank from the pressing station, andtooth-clenching rollers positioned to engage the blanks on theirdischarge by said conveyor, the combination therewith of a fixeddeflector disposed between the pressing means and the clenching rollersin the path of each strip for setting over the points of the stripteeth.

12. In apparatus for the assembly of folding blanks for cases comprisingpanels hingedly connected together by toothed metal binding strips, theapparatus comprising two supporting members for holding two previouslytoothed binding strips parallel to each other with their teeth exposed,a press for forcing the panels onto the strip teeth and thereby causingthe points of these teeth to be driven completely through the panels, aconveyor for discharging the blank from the pressing station andtooth-clenching rollers positioned to engage the blanks on theirdischarge by said conveyor, the combination therewith of a fixeddeflector member in the path of each strip, said member having anoperative surface lying at an acute angle to the plane of theapproaching blank and disposed obliquely to the path of the teeth.

13. Apparatus for the assembly of folding blanks for cases comprisingpanels hingedly connected together by toothed metal binding strips, theapparatus comprising supporting means for holding two previously toothedbinding strips parallel to each other with their teeth exposed,panel-locating members for correctly spacing apart panels being placedon the points of the strip teeth, and two press heads which are operablefor forcing the panels onto the strip teeth ANDREW MATI-IIS KAIVDPER.

